What's new
British Ordnance Collectors Network

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

WW2: Anti-Aircraft Rocket Warhead : Can Any One Help

N

Nightfire

Member
Hi , I am doing eveything I can to discover My Grandfarthers past during WW2.His name was Wilfred Savage and I belive he was a cilvilin working for George Kent LTD (Luton , England ) not sure when from but judging on some dates I have 1935 to 1953. My Grandfarther worked on two seperate designs during the war he delveloped system of remotely setting the time fuses of a battery of warheads the warhead itself is approx 30/40cm in length and about 3.5inch in width , its in three sections the top part being a brass cone with a thin tip to it , the second section was to incase all of the timing workings and the third section was the adjustable timing pieace. The way he designed this to work was to go off in two ways one was if it it hit a soild object ( Enemy Bombers in this case ) then the tip would shatter a fire the firing pin underneath and denote the explosive section. The more clever side to his design was the timing piece at the bottom of the warhead as it could be adjusted to any time rate inwhich you wanted it to go off for this he was honoured by being awarded the Britsh Empire Medal.Following this success he devoted his energies to the control of a ground-to-air missile guided onto its target by sound emission.The end of the war in 1945 meant that the weapon never reached its final stage of development but became a very early prototype.

The end of this tale is my Grandfarther died when I was four years old so I have never learned the full story and I have not yet been able to discover anything on any offical about what he did anywhere.I truely hope someone may something to help me learn more about a genious and deeply missed man. Please have a look through the photos I have attached and if anyone knows of what I am talking about or can offer any infomation no matter how small I would love to hear back from you.....Thanks to Spotter who has recommended this site and already sent a reply.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_9711.JPG
    IMG_9711.JPG
    26.4 KB · Views: 129
  • IMG_9713.JPG
    IMG_9713.JPG
    34.7 KB · Views: 102
  • IMG_9714.JPG
    IMG_9714.JPG
    29.4 KB · Views: 103
  • IMG_9715.JPG
    IMG_9715.JPG
    27.3 KB · Views: 92
  • IMG_9716.JPG
    IMG_9716.JPG
    25.3 KB · Views: 81
  • IMG_9717.JPG
    IMG_9717.JPG
    24.9 KB · Views: 84
  • IMG_9720.JPG
    IMG_9720.JPG
    27.9 KB · Views: 82
  • IMG_9724.JPG
    IMG_9724.JPG
    32.3 KB · Views: 75
  • IMG_9726.JPG
    IMG_9726.JPG
    40.2 KB · Views: 113
  • IMG_9730.JPG
    IMG_9730.JPG
    35.5 KB · Views: 102
As a good guide, what is the dia? Is that 3.5 inch?
 
Last edited:
Not my area I'm afraid, but it looks a very interesting item. I wish you all the luck in discovering your Grandfathers past. I'm sure other members will be able to help you out further. Thanks for posting and welcome to BOCN.

regards Kev
 
i think i have a nose cone from one of these,will take measurements etc at the weekend,from what i remember the diameter of mine is approx 3ins.
 
Hello Paul,

Your Grandfather must have been a very special person to be awarded the BEM!

Furthermore he worked for a very inventive company - George Kent Ltd.

I had some "spare cycles" today and you plight intrigued me enough to google around (which I assumed you have already exhausted!)

You are correct - googling on your Grandfather name and BEM came up empty-handed, and I would suspect if a match was found not enough information provided unless there was a wikipedi entry for him.

I next googled on the company - George Kent and war time related inventions....again not much chop here except that most of Australia's sewerage and water flow meters were supplied by them. Interesting enough, the search results shows a similar plight by the great granddaughter of George Kent himself seeking more information on her relative.

Finally I decided to try "google patents" - this was the method used to track down the actual patent of a WW1 US anti-submarine aerial bomb nose fuse that i had for quite a while and prior searches ended up empty-handed [credit for this method & tracking down of the patent of course goes to Joe Vann via John Bartleson's valuable assistance]. As your Grandfather works for them, the patent would most likely be submitted via the company.

Use the advance search feature:

http://www.google.com/advanced_patent_search

Searching just alone on your grandfather came up empty-handed, so I just searched on all patents that may have been submitted by "George Kent" as the Assignee only. Five pages of results came back and I have checked them all, but unfortunately I could not find anything relating to both your fuse nor your Grandfather.

(I would suggest you review all the patents just in-case I missed something)

There may be many reasons for this - prototype, experimental etc.

I will interested if headspace responds back with a similar item to yours!

But don't be dis-hearted, I spent a number of years wondering about my unknown fuse and through this forum finally solved the mystery.

My apologies for not providing more useful data in your quest....

All the best for your ongoing quest

Cheers
Drew
 
Last edited:
butterfly said:
Not my area I'm afraid, but it looks a very interesting item. I wish you all the luck in discovering your Grandfathers past. I'm sure other members will be able to help you out further. Thanks for posting and welcome to BOCN.

regards Kev
Click to expand...


Thanks alot Kev , feel postive to the number of replys, and I am sure the answer to my grandad is out there

Cheers again

Paul
 
headspace said:
i think i have a nose cone from one of these,will take measurements etc at the weekend,from what i remember the diameter of mine is approx 3ins.
Click to expand...


Hi Headspace ,

the nose cone isabout 3ins the base of the device is the arming and timing piece this is 3.5inch.
You might know more on this then I do but i belive the rocket was test fired in Cornwall some where around perranporth but have not found any info on this , if you knew anything againwould love tohear back from you

Cheers
 
Its a 731 Anti Aircraft Rocket Nose Fuze called the "Kealy"

UP - Unrotated Projectile it was a term used to cover the development of 2 and 3 inch anti aircraft rockets in the 1930's and into the early part of the war. Development also included PE (Photo Electric) sensors/fuzes and time fuzing the one in the image is a clockwork fuze used with a 3 inch anti aircraft rocket.

The fuze is quite large and sits above the warhead screwed onto the rocket motor. the intention I think was to set the time mechanically with a fuze setter prior to launch. The motor is similar in length to the aircraft rocket but the fins are attached differently.

They were fired from multiple launchers sometimes referred to as Z Batteries.

It is in the USA OP 1665 Series of Pubs British Ordnance.
 

Attachments

  • fuze.jpg
    fuze.jpg
    85.6 KB · Views: 84
  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    77.3 KB · Views: 52
Last edited:
Here the 3 inch No 1 warhead where it belongs to.
 

Attachments

  • 3 inch.jpg
    3 inch.jpg
    109.4 KB · Views: 118
Dronic69 said:
Hello Paul,

Hi ,

Got say a big thank you for looking into this for me , was not expecting someone to follow the line of reaserch I have been trying to conduct.
I have taken note of all your pointers to do with the patens funny enough my dad suggested that I did this also but could not find a thing well not yet......out of interest The Ministry of Defence would they have a record on this paten as I guess all design patens for the war effort would have to been over seen by them.

In the meen time i will keep on search I will get there in the end , having some great respones from other members so watch this space and hopefully I will uncover this warheads past......though I am still struggling with his BEM medal as he was a civil servant I can not find much to do with protocal awards for the civil service only those in the militry.

One again a big thank you
Click to expand...
 
Wow ,

Would love to see this in flesh so to speak , and to see at least one of the warheads reunited with the rest of the rocket......where did your picture come from ?

Cheers
 
Nightfire,

If you haven't already searched it, try the 'London Gazette' http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/search
All decorations are published therein.

You could also try ABB.Co.UK, they might have a company historian. The company is an amalgamation of a number of British companies, including George Kent.

Regards

TimG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top